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Sunday, January 11, 2009

Last Thursday, 8 January 2009, Mr Tan Hai Liang, the oldest man of Ubin, passed away at the age of 102 after sustaining a fall at his ubin home a few days prior.

My mom fondly remembers buying cola from his shop near the island's only school back in the 60s. The family still runs the little provision shop near the island's main town and jetty. His children has also converted the storeroom into a thriving and popular seafood restaurant.

The other centenarian, the former headman of Ubin, Mr Lim Chye Joo, passed away 3 years ago at age 101. He's featured in the photo in the article, on the right of the photo. Mr Tan is on the left.

I visited Mr Tan with Jen Lee from TNP just one year ago for an article on him and not even a year later, he's left us and Ubin with the last of his generation. Rest in Peace "Ah Gong".

Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Notice of Track Closure for Improvement Works posted at the bike rental shops in the main town area. Photo taken in December 2008

Regular visitors to Pulau Ubin would long have noticed that one of the access roads to Pulau Ubin, an off road trail, has been closed for some time now. This is the trail that passes by the Balai Quarry via the Northeast of the island. For cyclists, this was once a treacherous track. Many accidents, falls and spills had taken place on this trail.

The trail in question, Balai Quarry on the right of photo. Taken in June 2007.

As such, NParks is now conducting large scale maintenance, trim and fill of the trail. Some parts of the trail have been filled up with soil up to 2-3m high! While it is undergoing maintenance, cyclists are strongly advised against using this trail for their own safety! The alternate route to Chek Jawa is via Kampung Melayu through the southeast of the island.